Police in Virginia have thwarted a shooting that was scheduled for July 4 in the state capital Richmond.
Richmond police said a report led to the arrests and the seizure of several guns.
The authorities announced the alleged plot in a press release, but did not release any additional information. Leader Gerald Smith planned a press conference for Wednesday afternoon.
The announcement came just two days after a gunman opened fire from a rooftop at a military parade on July 4 in the upscale Chicago suburb of Highland Park, killing seven people and wounding more than 36.
Robert Cremo was charged with seven counts of murder on Tuesday. The shooting prompted hundreds of people to flee in fear and led to a chase that lasted for hours. The authorities have not yet determined the motive.
David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting in Florida and founder of gun control advocacy group March for Our Lives, tweeted Wednesday that he was “very concerned that we might be on the verge of something much worse happening.” [what] We have already seen. I’m worried that will happen if we don’t act.”
“I don’t think enough Republicans, Democrats, or law enforcement realize how close we are to a coordinated mass terrorist attack in the United States by these young, heavily armed white nationalists,” he added.
“They have so far acted on their own, but there are a lot of them who are armed and want the same thing – a white, male-dominated race,” Mr. Hogg said. “They have been radicalized online and through news channels to believe there is a ‘white genocide’ in our country.”
The gun control activist said his “biggest fear” is that “these young extremists stop working on their own and start cooperating through groups like the National Socialist Movement” and perhaps the “Proud Boys” to launch a “mass terrorist attack”.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report
